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Greyhounds answer wake-up call in second half
Kristy Guffey, Fort Scott Community College's head women's basketball coach, made a point in the second half of Tuesday night's game against the Missouri Valley College junior varsity at Arnold Arena Tuesday night.
Play defense or you don't play at all.
Guards Keisha Walker and Jasmine Hammond did not play a single minute of the second half of a 71-51 victory as Guffey decided to try and find players who were willing to play better defense.
"We've got to be coachable and listen," Guffey said. "We struggled understanding what we needed to do defensively in the first half. And we found a combination that could do that defensively in the second half."
But for a nine-point spurt by freshman Jazmin Taylor, the Greyhounds, 3-1, might have gone into the locker room trailing a squad that has defeated Neosho County twice this season. Fortunately, her three-point field goal from up top allowed the 'Hounds to go into the half with a 30-27 lead.
When Jazmin gets the green light at the two spot, she's ready to go," Guffey said. "She already has that aggressive tenacity offensively. And when you move her to the two spot, it's nice because we've got a backup point in Akyra Kirkwood who does good things. She doesn't want to turn the ball over. She understands what we want from her. She's a great team player."
But there were five occasions in the first half when the Greyhounds trailed. JV teams have become tougher to beat in the past few seasons, so team can't afford to come out with less than its best effort -- as Neosho has discovered.
Fort Scott was outworked on the boards in the first half, especially on the offensive end and allowed the Vikings to shoot 50 percent from the field. The 'Hounds made only 13 of 36 from the field.
Taylor's hot streak continued into the second half. She scored the first four points, extending her personal run to 13. Then Tiffany Coppage took a steal in for a layup and stuck in a teammate's miss to finish an 8-0 run that made it 38-27.
Missouri Valley refused to go away and was still within 46-42 with 12:22 remaining.
Four players scored in a 9-0 run that made it 62-46 with exactly six minutes to go, which finally gave the Greyhounds firm control.
"I thought they really handled themselves on the boards," Guffey said. "We were outrebounded (21-15) at the half. And got after it on the boards and understood the adjustments we needed to make defensively.
"And Tiffany was able to knock down some nice shots and Sharde Jones came in and rebounded and was a presence in side was huge for us."
Coppage scored 19 of her game-high 23 points in the second half. She made five three pointers in the game, four in the second half.
Taylor finished with 18 points as she went eight of 16 from the field. Walker scored 10 points, all in the first half but made only five of 12 from the field.
No one reached double figures for Missouri Valley. McCall Botke and Laticia Herkshan each scored eight points.
Fort Scott finished the night 30 of 75 from the field for 40 percent. The 'Hounds were just four of 11 from the free-throw line.
Missouri Valley shot 41 percent on the night on 20 of 49. The Vikings were held to eight of 25 in the second half.
Brittney English, a 6' 1" freshman, grabbed 11 of her team-high 13 rebounds in the second half as the Greyhounds finished with a 43-37 advantage on the boards. Coppage and Jones each had eight rebounds.
Missouri Valley committed 28 turnovers to Fort Scott's 16. English picked up six steals.
Kirkwood and Taylor each dished four assists.
The Greyhounds will be in the St. Louis area this weekend as they take mart in the Mineral Area Classic. Fort Scott will play the host school Friday at 3 then face Jefferson, Mo. Saturday at 1.
"Mineral Area is a lot like us, so it should be interesting to see if we can use our heads for 40 minutes instead of just 20," Guffey says.
"Jefferson has a new coach and might be a little down. But they have six foreign athletes, so it will be interesting to see what we are up against. We may have to deal with some size."
Friday begins a stretch in which the Greyhounds will have to play four road games in five days. They will also play at Missouri Valley Monday and the Ottawa JV Tuesday.
NOTES -- This is what we get for trying to do things from memory too close to deadline.
Last week, we said in the story about Walker signing with Texas Tech that she may have been only the first or second Greyhound to sign with a Division I school.
Then a former coach reminded us of...
* -- Noni Wharemate, who signed with Texas-El Paso in 2002 and may well be the best women's player Fort Scott has ever had.
* -- Kia Dowell, who also transferred to UTEP the same year as Wharemate.
* -- Sarah Clark, who went to Eastern Michigan in 2003.
And there may be one more as that coach thought he recalled that Takeemah Sanders signed with St. Peter's (Pa.) after the 2000-01 season.
So first, we'll bounce our head off our desk and then issue an apology to those players and their parents and coaches for the error....